Embargoed
until 19.30
Wednesday,
7/8/2013
Address
by the Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment
Mr.
Nicos Kouyialis
at
the inauguration ceremony of the Limassol Desalination Plant
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Your Excellency,
President of the Republic of Cyprus,
Your Excellency,
President of the House of Representatives,
Your Grace, Bishop of
Amathounta,
Honorable Minister of
Energy and Water Resources of Israel,
Honorable Minister of
Environment, Energy and Climate Change of Greece
Honorable Political Party
Leaders and Representatives,
Honorable former
President of the Republic,
Fellow Ministers,
Your Excellencies,
Ambassadors and Heads of Diplomatic Missions,
Distinguished guests,
It gives me a great
pleasure to welcome you today at the ceremony for the inauguration of
the Limassol Desalination Plant. Today, we celebrate the opening of
the fifth desalination plant in Cyprus, the completion of which
eliminates the dependency on the weather conditions and climate
change, thus ensuring adequate quantities of potable water for the
urban, suburban and tourist areas.
The water resources in
Cyprus are limited and are being supplied and enriched almost
exclusively by rainwater. Ensuring adequate quantities of potable
water has always been the main governmental water policy, since even
a couple of years of continuous drought is likely to bring dramatic
negative consequences to our people. Besides, the climate changes and
the frequent and long-term periods of drought, worsen the water
scarcity problem.
The continuous human
population growth, the improvement of the standard of living, the
industrial development and the agricultural growth, as well as the
constant increase of tourism are factors that unavoidably exert
pressure towards securing more quantities of water.
The natural water
resources are insufficient to cover the increasing water needs, thus,
gradually, we have adopted the policy of using non-conventional
water resources to ensure independency from weather conditions and
consequently adequate quantities of water for our country. This
policy together with the development of new, less energy-consuming
methods of desalination, has led to the decision to proceed with the
construction of more Desalination Plants in order to cover the
increasing needs in potable water.
The existing old
Desalination Plants have been already upgraded while new Plants
have been constructed, leading to the increase of the total
capacity of all our Plants to approximately two hundred and twenty
thousand (220.000) cubic meters of water per day. These quantities
are now sufficient to cover our needs in potable water which is of
good quality and in accordance with the requirements of the relevant
EU Directive.
At the same time,
recycled water is an additional non-conventional resource on which we
focus. Our main objective is to reinforce the water balance with the
produced recycled water, the quantity of which is expected to rise
steadily through the coming years, so affecting positively the
agricultural and farming sectors, as well as protecting the aquifers
and the ecosystems.
Furthermore, we give
particular emphasis on raising public awareness and creating water
awareness at the young age, through a number of activities including
lectures delivered in schools, so that the in the future citizens
use water wisely.
Before I conclude, I
would like to thank and congratulate the Water Development Department
and M.N. Limassol Water Company Ltd for the successful completion of
the Plant, which will be inaugurated shortly by his Excellency the
President of the Republic of Cyprus.
Ladies and gentlemen,
climate change exerts pressure on natural resources. Adaptation
measures are essential. With targeted investments, we can build today
the foundation for tomorrow's prosperity.
Thank you for your
attention.
/PSL-130807.001
